Main Entry: writerheadPronunciation: \ˈrī-tər-hed\Function: nounFirst Known Use: circa 1995
1 : a (usually) temporary state of dreamy concentration and fluctuating consciousness during which a writer feels most creative, productive, and artistic < upon waking in the morning, rolling out of bed, gently shushing one’s husband, and settling in at one’s desk: “Sssshhhh, I’m in writerhead” – Kristin Bair O’Keeffe >

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Writerhead Wednesday: Featuring Janna Cawrse Esarey

Welcome to Writerhead Wednesday, a weekly feature in which a brilliant, charming, remarkable author answers three questions about her/his writerhead…a precious opportunity for looky-loos around the world to sneak into the creative noggins of talented writers and (ever so gently) muck about.

If, by the time this blog entry posts, Janna hasn’t been nominated for sainthood or been offered the Academy Award for living alone with a husband on a sailboat for two years, she should be.

The Scoop About The Motion of the Ocean:

“The Motion of the Ocean gives readers a satisfying mix of adventure, soul-searching, and romantic comedy. Join Janna and Graeme on their 17,000-mile journey and their quest to resolve the uncertainties so many couples face: How do you know if you’ve really found the One? How do you balance commitment to others while preserving space for yourself? And, when the waters get rough, do you jump ship, or do you learn to navigate the world . . . together?”

The Buzz:

“This highly entertaining debut memoir follows thirty-something journalist Esarey and her new husband, Graeme, on a 17,000-mile journey around the Pacific Ocean in their small sailboat. Before they leave, countless married friends tell them, ‘If your relationship can survive this, it can survive anything.’ It doesn’t take the nautically challenged Esarey long to realize just how true the warning is. A well-written, rollicking high-seas adventure, this will appeal to anyone who enjoys a good love story.” ~ Library Journal

“Love at sea was the idea when Esarey and her newly minted husband decided to honeymoon in a beat-up old sailboat on a trip across the Pacific. Eight hundred and thirteen hilarious, treacherous and, yes, romantic days later, she comes to some serious conclusions. Let’s just say you’ll be wildly entertained and glad to be on solid ground.” ~ Publisher’s Weekly, “Favorite Reads for the Summer” (2009)

“I didn’t think it was possible to write a ‘new’ cruising yarn. However, Janna Cawrse Esarey has done it—from a female sailor’s perspective. This isn’t a story of a cruise; it is an insightfully-written story of a maturing relationship. Best of all, her pen is as sharp as her wit. She pulls no punches. I laughed and cried—and saw myself on every page.” ~ Cap’n Fatty Goodlander, Editor-at-Large of Cruising World magazine

First Line:

“Somewhere fifty miles off the coast of Oregon I realize the skipper of this very small ship is an asshole.”

Second Line:

“He also happens to be my husband.”

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And now…for Janna’s writerhead:

1. Describe your state of writerhead (the where, the when, the how, the what, the internal, the external).

These days writerhead occurs at sparrow fart. That’s Kiwi slang* for very early in the morning. I get up at 5:30 every day to write before my two young daughters wake at seven. First, I make coffee—at which point I’m Mrs. Goldilocks, cursing my husband for last night (too late), my girls for this morning (too early), and myself for my push-pull obsession (just write). BUT around the time I’m doing my dying cockroach exercises , my writerhead starts warming up—“and ONE and TWO”—and by the time I’m at my laptop, I’m in my zone.

Writerhead reminds me of what my then-boyfriend-now-husband once termed quicksilver communication. He had this idea, see, that we would get to a point in our relationship where I would just know his thoughts and feelings—and vice versa—without having to talk about them. Connections between us, he said, would just zing-zang-zing like quicksilver. Well. Mind reading isn’t my specialty, nor, clearly, is it his. I informed him I’d much rather communicate(!) than rely on some mystic, intuitive brainwave poppycock.

But here’s the deal. Maybe I do believe in some mystic, intuitive brainwave poppycock when it comes to writing. I mean, the connections between words and images, themes and ideas that randomly, serendipitously, fatefully, miraculously show up are (yes, admit it) like quicksilver communication between one’s soggy brain and some kickass muse. The moments we writers write for.

Though sometimes writerhead ambushes me. If this happens during the day while driving, say, or playing Applause for kids’ dressup, I call it inspiration. If it occurs at night, right as I’m falling asleep, I call it inconvenience. But when it occurs in the middle of the night—wakes me up or keeps me up and will not let me go until I write-it-down-dammit—I call it insomnia. Still, the cracks to some of the toughest nuts come during sleepyhead writerhead, so I try not to complain. Too much.

2. What happens if someone/something interrupts writerhead? (a spouse, a lover, a barking dog, an electrical outage, a baby’s cry, a phone call, a leg cramp, a dried-up pen, a computer crash, etc.)

In my world as a part-time mom/part-time writer, the most common interruption of writerhead is—you guessed it—kids. So let me tell you what happened ten minutes ago while writing up these answers. My five-year-old who still naps (I know!) woke up early from her nap (grrr), and had I just been checking email or googling what G.I. stands for (Government Issue), then I’d have been a good mother and closed my laptop and said, “Wanna read more Little House, chuckums?” BUT I was in writerhead. So here’s what happened instead: PBS. (Which is precisely why I try to schedule writerhead at sparrow fart and do other writerly duties during naps.)

3. Using a simile or metaphor, compare your writerhead to something.

You, of course, already know this without us having to talk about it, right? Writerhead for me is like quicksilver communication. Zing. Zang. Zing.

*No, I’m not from New Zealand. But I met this lady once who was, and I really liked that saying because isn’t that exactly how it feels?

You can connect with Janna on Facebook and Twitter (@ByJanna). Also, check out her blog at seattlepi.com.

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Q4U Writers / Readers /Sailors / Landlubbers / Husbands / Wives: Now I know y’all got something to say about the prospect of spending two years on a dinghy with only your spouse to keep you company. So lay it on us. And in addition to that, any thoughts on writing at sparrow fart, sleepyhead writerhead, or mystic, intuitive brainwave poppycock?